The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 23, 2010
Filed:
May. 10, 2007
Applicant:
Yong Seok Choi, McKinney, TX (US);
Inventor:
Yong Seok Choi, McKinney, TX (US);
Assignee:
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 17/50 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
The present application is directed to apparatus and methods for determining a magnitude of defocus and a direction of defocus for a photolithography process. A sub-resolution feature on a reticle which is not printed on a wafer at the best focus offset, but is formed on a wafer at some defocus during the photolithography process is analyzed to determine the magnitude and direction of defocus. The magnitude and direction of defocus are used to adjust the photolithography process to an optimal focus based on the determined magnitude of defocus and the determined direction of defocus.